Chelsea not finished says Luiz Felipe Scolari

11 January 2009 09:18

The Brazilian insisted his side were not yet out of the title race despite suffering their worst Premier League defeat for three years.

But despite a run of form that has seen Chelsea manage just one win in five League games, as well as suffer the indignity of a 1-1 FA Cup draw with lowly Southend, the Brazilian remained defiant, claiming that his side should not be written off.

Scolari said: "Either we are men and think about our future and improve, or we die. I'm not going to do that and I don't think my players will. They will think about us and we will start again.

"We need to see what has happened in the last four or five games and put it right. If we play like we did in the second half again, we will not win the title, we know that.

"But don't think we're finished yet. We will keep fighting until the very last day, and so will United, Arsenal and Liverpool. We aren't finished just because we lost one game.

"There are still 16 or 17 games left to play and you never know what the other teams will do."

Scolari revealed he would not be tempted to dabble in the January transfer window in a bid to freshen up his ailing side. His attacking options were so threadbare here that, having seen his forwards fail to muster a single shot on target, he was forced to send on the teenager Franco Di Santo.

Despite that, the Brazilian insisted he was happy with his squad and does not plan to add to it by using the £12 million raised from the sale of Wayne Bridge.

He said: "These are my players. I stand or fall with them. I know no new players will be arriving, and that is fine. I have enough players."

Chelsea are just a point ahead of United, with the champions now the bookmakers' favourites for the title, thanks to having two games in hand which, if won, would take them to the top of the table before leaders Liverpool have a chance to respond.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "If we can play with the excitement we did today then we have a great chance.

"January is a tough month and it's a big one for us. This is the first win out of the road. Normally these games are quite tight but scoring just before half-time opened things up for us. It was a good result."

Familiar faces

The former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, was at Old Trafford watching Manchester United ahead of the Champions League tie with his Inter Milan side.

The Portuguese coach said: "This is my first time in England since I left Chelsea and there were only two places I would have wanted to come back to: Stamford Bridge, because that was my home, and here, because I have so many happy memories.

"Defeat, sure, but also good things, and whatever the result I always had the chance to share some ideas or some feelings with Sir Alex Ferguson for a moment after the game."

Scolari on Ronaldo

Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari revealed that he had given some fatherly advice to Cristiano Ronaldo after the United winger crashed his Ferrari last week. Reacting to news that Chelsea fans had chanted, 'You should have died in the tunnel', he said: 'My focus is entirely on the game so I never hear what they are singing.

'But I spoke with Cristiano and I told him that maybe he has to learn for the future. Maybe the crash was a lesson from God to think about life more.'